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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

"Precipice of a Plunge"?

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"If one is talking Oscars with a film like Invictus then it's worth considering that even fans of the piece couldn't possibly, credibly consider it one of Eastwood's top tier works," writes In Contention's Kris Tapley. "An expanded Best Picture category and enough traditionalist voting methods will likely secure it a spot in the field, and Morgan Freeman has enough gravitas to coast to a most undeserved nomination, but beyond that, nothing rings true.

"Best Director? It would be surprising. Best Supporting Actor? The acting branch would be voting on autopilot. Below the line? Not enough frills.

"But away from the black hole of awards considerations, it's difficult not to see Invictus as a warning that Eastwood could be on the precipice of a Woody Allen-like plunge following a very commendable late-career burst. Every one of Allen's films as of late, throughout his career, have been about something. But the craft has worn thin (save for last year's Vicky Cristina Barcelona). That's where I'd say Eastwood finds himself, despite what critical apologists might say. A few moments away from the fray might do him good."

Alllen's Match Point was thin? Not according to my yardstick.

Eastwood can't take a few moments away from the fray because if he did he'd lost his momentum. He's following a plan -- keep moving, stay limbre, keep 'em coming at a price -- and he's on a clock. As Christopher Plummer's Mike Wallace says in the third act of The Insider, "What do I say at this point? That in the future I'd like to do this or that? Future...what future?":

Invictus Fusilli<< previous | next >>Na'vi Evolution

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 30, 2009 at 10:09 AM

comment #1

Eloi Manning says ...

Will Ron Howard receive Eastwood levels of critical adulation when he's in his 70s? Or Edward Zwick?

Posted by Eloi Manning at November 30, 2009 10:24 AM

comment #2

Sean says ...

INVICTUS joins GRAN TORINO and MILLION DOLLAR BABY on the estimable Glenn Kenny's Top 70 of the decade.

http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2009/11/the-seventy-greatest-films-of-the-decade.html#more

Posted by Sean at November 30, 2009 10:33 AM

comment #3

corey3rd says ...

Blindside will get the 10th nom

Posted by corey3rd at November 30, 2009 10:37 AM

comment #4

raygo says ...

I went to see Million Dollar Baby based on Jeff's rave and similar raves from both commenters and other critics. I found it underwhelming and not all that special. The reverse happened with Grand Torino, where I was prepared to be disappointed and found it much better that I expected, and in my opinion more entertaining than Million Dollar Baby. That said, any Eastwood project is worthy of consideration. Some more than others. I don't see any misses of the caliber of Woody Allen. And Match Point was wafer thin, considering he borrowed the basic premise from Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Posted by raygo at November 30, 2009 11:03 AM

comment #5

Mark says ...

Didn't Jeffrey start the trend of grading director's works in tiers?

Clint's directed a few masterpieces, so i'm not sure it's fair to compare every one of his films to those. No Country won best picture, and that felt fine, yet I wouldn't consider it top-tier Coen brothers. Fairly middle of the pack. A good adaptation, but not nearly as special as Raising Arizona or Fargo.

Posted by Mark at November 30, 2009 11:18 AM

comment #6

JohnCope says ...

If Tapley thinks VCB is Woody's best recent pic then I automatically can discount the rest of his opinion. As to Match Point: it doesn't matter to me that it "borrowed the basic premise from Crimes and Misdemeanors"; it's a variation on the theme and what matters is what Woody did with it this time.

Posted by JohnCope at November 30, 2009 11:18 AM

comment #7

raygo says ...

It seems to me that because Match Point is (to my knowledge) the first Allen movie to feature really smoking hot actors in a sex-fueled scenario, people attach some sort of gravitas to it that it really doesn't deserve.

Posted by raygo at November 30, 2009 11:25 AM

comment #8

Josh Massey says ...

As much as I love Clint the actor (and the man), I must admit Clint the director has made only one great movie since Unforgiven - Letters From Iwo Jima.

The rest have ranged from very good (Mystic River, A Perfect World) to middling (Flags From Our Fathers, Million Dollar Baby) to downright awful (Gran Torino, True Crime).

But the common bond between those films? They were showered with effusive praise from all corners of the criticsphere. People seem afraid to say anything negative about an Eastwood film, so I'm taking the straining-to-be-nice Invictus reception to mean it falls in the "downright awful" category.

Posted by Josh Massey at November 30, 2009 11:33 AM

comment #9

Sonic Boom says ...

Saying Clint should slow down a bit at his age is ridiculous and I'm not even a big fan of the guy's work. I think Mystic River might be the most over-rated film of the decade.

At the same time, I think Letters from Iwo Jima should have won Best Picture.

Posted by Sonic Boom at November 30, 2009 11:40 AM

comment #10

Myles says ...

We get it, Jeff. You don't like this flick.

Move on.

Posted by Myles at November 30, 2009 11:56 AM

comment #11

Muscle McGurk says ...

I could've sworn the plunge happened somewhere in the aftermath of The Outlaw Josey Wales.

Posted by Muscle McGurk at November 30, 2009 1:14 PM

comment #12

Scott Nye says ...

Eastwood is the definition of giving a director a break because we like him. Like a lot of people, I have varied reactions to his work, loved some and felt pretty indifferent to others, but none have deserved their highest praise (i.e. Best Director, Best Picture, etc.). There's always been much better stuff out there.

But I do give Eastwood a break because I like him, so I'll absolutely see Invictus. But I would be shocked if it made my Top 30 for the year, much less a Top 10.

Posted by Scott Nye at November 30, 2009 2:53 PM

comment #13